Dreams and Visions: Dream: The Stopped-Up Toilet

Bruce's Dream: The Stopped-Up Toilet
I am walking toward a room. There is a little girl in a Sunday dress,
sitting on a curb. She is crying. I see the tears. There are single tears
running down each of her cheeks. As I near her, she turns into an adult
woman, in her 30s.
I walk into the room. It is a bathroom. Both the toilet and the tub are full of
excrement. There is no wash basin. I take down the shower rod and start to
plunge the toilet. I say, "I've had enough of this. It's time to wake up."

James' Interpretation:
The subject matter of this dream is Bruce's elimination system (the
location of the dream being a bathroom). The dream is saying he is
experiencing a blockage within the system, symbolized by the
stopped-up toilet. The toilet, as a symbol, can represent the bowels (pun
on bowl).
The opening part of the dream links his repressed emotions as the cause,
symbolized by the crying little girl. Anytime we repress (withhold)
things, we produce a similar physical manifestation. Bruce has been
taught to withhold his feelings as a child. I suspect he may have been
told that "only girls cry," as a youngster. As he has matured into an
adult (the transition of the girl to a woman), the effect of such
withholding has manifested into a slow-moving elimination system.
In essence, the dream is saying he has a problem with letting go or
releasing, both feelings and waste. The dream is asking him to realize
this, symbolized by his saying he's had enough and it's time to wake up.
Waking up is good, as it indicates realization and awareness. The dream
is asking Bruce to take the proper measures to correct the problem.